US State Department spokesperson dodges question on whether Palestinians live under occupation

US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel refused to directly answer a question posed by journalist Said Arikat during a State Department press briefing on 26 January on whether he considers Palestinians in the West Bank to be living under military occupation by Israel.

The journalist later asked Patel if he believes collective punishment on people under occupation is a war crime, which Patel also refused to answer directly and instead called for “both sides to de-escalate and work together to improve the security situation”.

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